


Suldanessellar Nights

by SilchasRuin



Category: Baldur's Gate
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Girls' Night Out, Humor, Reluctant Friendship, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24543874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilchasRuin/pseuds/SilchasRuin
Summary: Outside the walls of Suldanessellar, Alaundo's prophecies foretell blood and flame. Inside the walls of Suldanessellar, the Bhaalspawn Angelique and her party are barely tolerated by the elves whose lives they so recently saved.But that isn't really what's important right now.Therealissue is that Imoen's organizing a girls' night. And, whether they like it or not, her sister and her friends are going to finally let their hair down and have some fun.Whether or not Suldanessellar will survive it is quite another story.
Relationships: Female Charname/Viconia DeVir
Comments: 13
Kudos: 14
Collections: Baldur's Gate Gift Exchange 2020





	Suldanessellar Nights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



"I," Imoen announced, throwing open the door dramatically, "have an idea."

"Well, _that_ isn't good," Hexxat murmured.

"First off, _rude,"_ Imoen said, pointing at Hexxat. "Second, you're going to like it. Because Ellesime's going to hate it."

"Oh!" Hexxat said, shutting her book with a snap. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"I would hear what this 'idea' is before agreeing to anything." Viconia's suspicious stare was not entirely unmerited, considering the members of their motley group. Korgan's idea of fun involved far more property damage than even the drow would consider necessary, while Edwin's suggestions almost made her long for a nice pit of spiders to feed him to.

Imoen grinned at them. "Two words, everyone. We're going to have a girls' night!" With a flourish and a quick cantrip, sparks flew from the tips of her fingers to punctuate her statement with a suitably cheerful firework display.

"That was seven words," Viconia said flatly.

Hexxat sighed, reaching for her discarded book. "I do hate to break this to you, Imoen, but I think that the queen of Suldanessellar would actually be quite pleased to not get an invitation to a 'girls' night' with a vampire, a drow, and two Bhaalspawn."

Imoen made a noise of frustration, throwing up her hands. "You're both missing the point! This is the stuffiest place I've ever been in, and I grew up in a monastery! And if there's one thing that's likely to annoy a bunch of stuffy elves, it's definitely other people having a party."

"Is there going to be torture?" Viconia asked.

"No," Imoen said.

 _"Drow_ parties have torture," Viconia said, clearly unimpressed.

"If we are to torture someone, I nominate the Thayan," Hexxat said. "He keeps trying to steal my cloak. And my amulet. And my coffin, of all things."

"Agreed," Viconia said.

"Guys, there's not going to be any torture," Imoen said firmly. "But there _will_ be fruity drinks. With umbrellas in them."

Hexxat raised an eyebrow. "And by 'drinks', you mean..."

"You've got some blood stored in your Bag of Holding, right? I've got little silver-colored umbrellas," Imoen said hopefully. "They match your necklace."

"Hmm," Hexxat mused. "I think I drained a bandit a couple days ago who tasted a little fruity. Very well, Imoen. You have a deal."

"Great!" Imoen grinned, turning eagerly towards Viconia.

"I have no interest in tiny umbrellas," the drow said haughtily.

"That's too bad," Angelique sighed as she emerged from the shadows, pacing around the room to settle gracefully on the divan nearest Viconia. "I thought it sounded like a lot of fun."

Viconia hesitated for a moment, but rallied quickly enough. "I find that 'fun' is best pursued on an individual basis," she purred, shooting Angelique a decidedly smoldering look. "Or in pairs, _mrimm d'ssinss."_

"Way too much information," Imoen said, wrinkling her nose at them.

"She isn't wrong, though," Hexxat pointed out.

Angelique cleared her throat, a slight flush coloring her cheeks. "Be that as it may, a girls' night really is a great idea. We've spent so much time on the road, constantly fighting for survival. Now that we're finally in a place with decent baths and beds that don't feel like they've been made out of bricks, why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves for once?"

"This is a strange idea of pleasure," Viconia grumbled. "But I must admit that it would not be unwelcome to take recreation without having to bear the insolent stares of these _darthiir_ any longer."

Imoen discreetly flashed a thumbs-up at her sister. "It's settled, then! See you all tomorrow at seven, and don't be late!" With a flick of her fingers and a smattering of dust, she muttered a quick Invisibility spell and slipped out the door before Viconia could voice any further objections.

"Surface customs truly are strange," Viconia said, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"There's no need to be alarmed," Angelique said reassuringly, picking up on her lover's discomfort. "Imoen really doesn't have any ulterior motives beyond getting to know everyone better."

"I am not some...some soggy surfacer woman, to be _alarmed,"_ Viconia snapped. "I am understandably cautious, for both of our sakes. My own siblings, as you well know, fared poorly at my hands."

Angelique raised her eyebrows. "Do you think I'm a 'soggy surfacer woman', as you put it?"

"Anyone can be soggy, if you drink them the wrong way," Hexxat said. She shrugged as Viconia turned to scowl at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'd just hate to see such a lovely neck fall deeper into the hole you keep digging for yourself."

Viconia pointedly turned her back to the vampire, facing Angelique. "I speak, of course, of the typical simpering surfacers who infest this world like crawling worms. You are anything but typical, Angelique."

"Why, Viconia! That was very nearly sweet of you!" Angelique's eyes sparkled with mirth.

"I did not know that you put such stock in words," Viconia murmured. "If I had, I could have compared your beauty to the cold stars of the Glimmersea, and the gods' blood singing in your veins to the siren call of the ancient power that lies beneath its surface." She shifted in her chair, running a hand through her hair with deliberate slowness. "But I find myself more inclined towards action. Would you not agree?"

Angelique's breath caught briefly in her throat. "I-" Her gaze flickered over towards Hexxat.

"Don't mind me," Hexxat said, rising. "I suppose I'll have to prepare for the party. A new dress, perhaps? Or draining some fresh food? I wonder if the etiquette for such gatherings has changed since my seclusion. Decisions, decisions..."

"I suppose I should prepare myself as well," Viconia said, a coy smirk darting briefly across her lips at Angelique's poorly disguised disappointment. "Tell me, how much alcohol will I need to imbibe to dull my wits enough to bear this insipid gathering?"

"Probably quite a lot, actually," Angelique said sweetly, folding her arms. "In fact, you'd better get started if you want to be anywhere near ready in time. I suppose we'll have to postpone our date until after the party, then."

Neatly hoisted by her own petard, Viconia shook her head. "Surfacers," she grumbled, but her complaints were heard only by an empty room. Angelique had already vanished into the shadows again.

Perhaps it was for the best. Viconia was sure that she had a dress somewhere at the bottom of her pack which would make Angelique regret her decision in a truly enjoyable fashion. The anticipation would undoubtedly serve to make Imoen's latest idea tolerable, if not enjoyable.

It was not exactly what could be considered a ringing endorsement. Still, considering how unbelievably dull _darthiir_ cities were when they weren't on fire, Viconia supposed that it could always be worse.

At least the vampire could be counted upon to lend some basic dignity to the situation.

***

"I would like another umbrella," Hexxat announced, extending a large goblet filled almost to the rim with disturbingly vivid red liquid and the sodden remains of three formerly silver miniature umbrellas floating somewhere in the morass.

"Will you be all right, drinking those?" Imoen asked curiously, handing over another tiny umbrella.

"Mild indigestion. An acceptable tradeoff, really," Hexxat said, dropping the latest paper victim into her concoction with a distinct air of satisfaction. "They certainly didn't have these in Chult while I was still alive."

Imoen had attempted to decorate Viconia's drink, as well. She'd snatched the offending prop out of her wine as soon as the mage's back was turned, of course.

Imoen's conjured Lesser Air Elemental had promptly placed another one back in. Viconia immediately conjured an Aerial Servant to toss it right back out again. The elemental had evidently taken offense to this.

The two summoned creatures were currently tussling with each other in the middle of the room, to Angelique's evident delight. Dignity and comportment were clearly not in attendance.

"So, this is your 'I'm having fun!' face, right?" Viconia's back stiffened as she realized that Imoen had somehow managed to sneak up behind her. In the Underdark, distraction was death. The mark of a fool.

She wasn't in the Underdark.

"I am thinking of murder," she said. "Not yours," she added after a moment, since humans seemed to find it necessary to specify these things.

"Eh, close enough," Imoen said, shrugging. "So, what's your favorite color?"

Viconia stared at her, eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"Girls' nights are about getting to know each other," Imoen said cheerfully. "I figured this was the question least likely to get me cursed. Was I right?"

Viconia sighed. "If I tell you the answer, will you refrain from mewling at me for five minutes?"

"Hmmm..." Imoen appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. "I can do thirty seconds! Probably."

If there was one thing Viconia had learned from traveling with Angelique and her party, it was that surfacers seemed to truly adore the sounds of their own voices. Thirty seconds was likely the best outcome she could hope for. "Black."

"Huh, really? I would have pegged you for a blue sort of girl," Imoen mused. "Well, we all know Angelique's favorite color, since a bunch of crazy druids nearly murdered her over it. Hey, Hexxat! How about you?"

"Silver, I should think," Hexxat said absently, still somewhat preoccupied with attempting to rescue her latest umbrella. "And yours is, of course, pink. So, when are we getting to the gossip?"

Viconia scoffed. "What are we going to gossip about? Which of the gods wants to kill us most?"

"It's that, or braiding each other's hair," Hexxat said, shrugging. "And I'm afraid I'm out of practice on both."

"I'm honestly lucky if braids even stay in my hair," Imoen said mournfully. "That dye's really thinned it out something awful. How do you keep your hair looking so great, anyways, Hexxat?"

"By being dead," Hexxat replied dryly.

"Oh," Imoen said, wincing slightly. "Right." She cleared her throat. "Hey, Angelique! Any ideas?"

The thief froze as the other three women's gazes turned towards her and the increasingly precariously stacked platter of sweetmeats in her hand. "Well, nobody else was eating them," she said, somewhat defensively.

Imoen deftly snatched a pastry from Angelique's plate. "Fair point. So, what do you guys think you'll do after all this?"

Viconia supposed that would depend on Angelique. Not that she would ever admit to it, of course. "Find enough wine to completely scour this night from my memory."

"Why, Viconia!" Hexxat exclaimed, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't know you could joke."

"I was not joking," she said, keeping her expression completely serious.

"No, I meant after we leave Suldanessellar. We're not going to just stick around forever, right? I figure we'll hunker down in here till all of this Bhaalspawn stuff fizzles out, but what about afterward?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Viconia saw Angelique's smile flicker for a second. "I...don't know, actually," Angelique admitted. Her eyes darted towards Viconia for a moment, so quickly that the drow almost thought she might have imagined it. "I hadn't really thought about it, to be honest."

"I could go back to Chult," Hexxat said after a brief moment of hesitation. "See how things have changed. It might be interesting, for a while."

"I'm going to build an archmage's tower," Imoen announced. "Staffed entirely by adorable elementals, the occasional planetar, and exceedingly nubile young men."

"'Nubile?' Really, Imoen?" Angelique said, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

"Hey, the monks always went on and on about not allowing us to read those 'sinful books full of nubile women' they kept conveniently locked up in their bedrooms," Imoen said, shrugging. "Figured it's got to mean something pretty good."

"What about you, Viconia?" Angelique's voice was deceptively casual, but Viconia knew her well enough to recognize the signs of her interest. "Have you thought about what you're going to do once this is over?"

She searched for a suitable lie. "Perhaps I will find another farmhouse," she said. "Far away from any _rivvin,_ this time."

"You won't have to hide from people any more, Viconia!" Imoen said, frowning slightly. "We're heroes of legend!"

"Not in taverns, we aren't," Hexxat said dryly.

"Yeah, okay," Imoen said, waving her comment off, "but that's not really _our_ fault, it's Korgan's and Edwin's."

"I must admit, I have some reservations about leaving those two unsupervised," Hexxat said, frowning. "Perhaps we should ensure that they aren't... _inconveniencing_ our hosts."

"Korgan's not that bad," Imoen protested. "And Edwin's just kind of mopey these days, anyway. I'm sure Korgan'll keep him from doing anything too crazy."

"Are you sure about that?" Angelique said doubtfully.

"Yeah, totally," Imoen said, shrugging. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

***

"Ye look like someone's taken an axe tae yer skull, bag o'tricks!" Korgan roared, dropping onto the barstool beside Edwin and clapping him on the back heartily enough to make the mage choke slightly on his drink. "What's got yer knickers all twisted, mage?"

Edwin heaved a melodramatic sigh, staring glumly into his wineglass. "I doubt that you possess the necessary acuity to comprehend my predicament, Korgan. Bah!" he muttered as an aside. "Even the transfigurative annals of Thay would lack the appropriate chronicles, if these simians could even read them!"

Korgan eyed him askance. "Ye know I can hear yer muttering, right? We all can."

"Very well!" Edwin snapped. "Don't enquire further! Leave me in peace!"

The dwarf shrugged. "No skin off me back, that is. 'Ere, wench! A tankard o'ale!"

Edwin fidgeted slightly, eyes darting between his drink and his companion. Seeing that no further conversation was forthcoming, he threw up his hands. "Fine, fine! I'll tell you the dilemma that plagues me!"

"I didnae ask," Korgan grumbled, taking a large swig from his tankard.

Edwin ignored him. "It's that blasted Nether Scroll! Ever since my...metamorphosis...my usual sesquipedalian splendor has deserted me! Every time I even think of finding a suitable conquest to whom I can demonstrate the renowned erotic arts of Thay, I keep being reminded of how badly I wanted to Prismatic Spray every odious lecher who dared inflict their unwanted attentions upon me when I was a woman! I haven't even called anyone a wench in weeks! Entire _weeks,_ Korgan!"

Throughout his tirade, Korgan's usually languid eyes had grown wider and wider. He stared at the wizard with a strange expression on his face, leaning slightly backward. "Ye've been struck by a disease most foul, mage," he said gravely.

"A disease?" Edwin's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He combed his fingers through his beard in agitation. "Brain fever? Or the transformational plague? Or perhaps-"

The dwarf cut him off with a heavy hand on his shoulder. "It's called 'empathy', friend," he said, his voice solemn as the grave. "And there be only one cure fer it." He signaled the barmaid over again, waving his other arm in the air. "Oy, wench! More ale!"

"And that will fix it?" Edwin said hopefully.

"After enough ale?" Korgan slid the brimming tankard over towards him, a wide grin on his features. "Aye, laddie. Aye."

***

"You know what we should do?" Imoen said brightly. "Drinking games!"

"Sounds fun," Angelique said. "But what about Hexxat?"

"I can drink wine, if I wish, but I'm afraid it wouldn't do anything for me," Hexxat replied. "But don't worry, girls. I came prepared!" She loosened the drawstring of Dragomir's Respite, carefully drawing out a full wineskin. "I made sure to drain some drunkards for their blood. It should amount to the same thing, as far as I can tell."

"Great!" Imoen exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "How about we start with a nice, easy one? Ever played 'Never Have I Ever?'"

"Never," Hexxat said, shaking her head. Viconia made a noncommittal noise of agreement.

"It's pretty easy," Imoen said, picking up her wineglass to demonstrate. "You have to say something that you've never done before, and if anyone else has done it, they have to take a drink. The trick is to try and make as many other people drink as possible. So, to start, I'd say something like...never have I ever kissed a girl!"

All three of the other women took sips of their drinks as Imoen beamed at them. "See? Easy! Angelique, you go next!"

"Never have I ever picked a lock," Angelique said promptly.

"Really? Never?" Imoen said as she raised her goblet.

"I had a sister to do it for me," Angelique said, grinning.

Viconia had had servants to do the same thing. Failing that, she'd always found divine flame to be effective. She waited for Hexxat to finish sipping before speaking. "Never have I ever been the daughter of a dead god."

"Aww, not fair!" Imoen complained. She and Angelique still took a drink, though.

"And here I'd expected this game to be more...revealing," Hexxat said, a sly smile dancing briefly across her lips. "I'll offer up my own entertainment, then. Let's see...never have I ever committed indecent exposure!"

"I mean, technically I was invisible," Imoen said, taking a drink anyway. "More or less."

The tips of Angelique's ears flushed red as she took a sip. "Imoen dared me," she said by way of explanation.

"Really, Viconia?" Hexxat said, raising her eyebrows as she noticed the drow's untouched wineglass.

Viconia shrugged one shoulder. "Such things are not considered indecent among the drow."

"Still counts!" Imoen exclaimed. Viconia shrugged again and raised her glass to her lips. The wine was good, after all, and she didn't care to belabor the point.

"Ooh, my turn again!" Imoen rubbed her hands together with glee. "Never have I ever been thrown out of a tavern!"

"That was _one_ time!" Angelique groaned as the other three women all reached for their drinks. "What sort of inn has an angry lich just lying about in the back room, anyway? Well, here's one for you, Imoen: never have I ever given anyone a pet nickname."

"Puffguts was the _perfect_ name, and you know it!"

"I named my bats," Hexxat said, with some slight embarrassment, as she wiped an errant streak of blood from her lips.

Imoen opened her mouth, hiccoughed, then dissolved into giggles. "Your turn, Vicky!"

"Very well," Viconia said, eager to move on before Imoen decided that that abomination of a nickname was a good idea. "Never have I ever read one of Volo's insipid gossip rags and actually enjoyed it."

"I read it for the articles," Imoen said, snickering as she drank.

"Oh, come on, Viconia!" Angelique said, although her tone was good-natured. "I think you'd like it, if you gave it a try. He has a talent for scathing commentaries on fashion that you'd probably appreciate."

"Not to mention the illustrated travelogues," Hexxat said, somewhat wistfully. "I always did want to visit Calimshan."

"His so-called 'guides' have more fiction in them than a mindflayer's promise," Viconia said, turning her nose up slightly.

"Hang on," Imoen said slyly. "Does that mean you've read them?"

"I never said that I'd _enjoyed_ them," Viconia said with a disdainful sniff. Privately, she resolved to 'borrow' a couple of Angelique's copies when nobody was looking so that she could quickly browse the fashion sections her lover had mentioned. Outrageous insults were, after all, her guilty pleasure.

"My turn again," Hexxat said with ominous glee. "Never have I ever been in love!"

Viconia froze, aware that Angelique was probably just as still. To admit such a thing was the worst form of weakness. It had gotten her brother killed, would have slain that _wael_ Solaufein, and had undoubtedly been the death of many other drow throughout the ages. Weak and pathetic, she would have said. They deserved it, she would have said.

But she wasn't in the Underdark, as she kept having to remind herself. She had been invited into, and willingly entered, a _darthiir_ city. She was participating in some sort of frilly surfacer ritual, complete with drinking games. She was, for better or worse, entangled with a daughter of Bhaal whose dark power matched her beauty.

And she was, as she was quickly beginning to realize, getting very, _very_ drunk.

Before she could stop to think about what a colossally bad idea it was, she tipped her head back and drained the remains of her cup in one go, to raucous cheers from Hexxat and a wolf-whistle that was undoubtedly from Imoen.

Angelique was grinning at her when she finally lowered the glass, her cheeks flushed. "Well, now you've got me thinking that one sip wasn't enough," she said, taking an ostentatious gulp.

"What the Hells, that's worth a drink for everyone," Imoen said, her smile almost as wide as her sister's. "Bottoms up!"

As Imoen's elemental refilled her drink, Viconia had the vague, disturbing sensation that she was forgetting about something - or someone, perhaps. But between the warmth of the wine and Angelique's inviting smile, it slipped out of her grasp in a pleasantly muddled haze.

Whatever it was, it couldn't have been that important.

***

"This confounded brew isn't - hic! - working," Edwin complained, nearly tipping off his stool in his overly deliberate efforts to push his tankard away.

"Ye haven't had enough yet, mage!" Korgan roared. "T'aint awt a hellish dram can't cure!"

Edwin's features collapsed into the very picture of anguish as he stared at the extremely unimpressed barmaid. "It's no use! I cannae - argh! That wretched dialect of yours! - even call her a wench while thoroughly intosh-intocschic-drunk! Perhaps one of those useless healers has a cure for empathy..."

"Ah, quit yer whingin'," Korgan said dismissively. "Ye ken magery, don't ye?"

"My thaumaturgic prowess cannot be overestimated!" Edwin snapped indignantly. "Conjuration, Abjuration, Evocation..." His voice trailed off for a moment. "Evocation," he repeated thoughtfully, his eyes glazing over slightly. "The Zulkir Aznar Thrul always did say that evocation is the best solution to any problem."

"Tha's the spirit!" Korgan said, only half-listening. "Now fer some more ale!"

"Attention, simians!" Edwin proclaimed, lurching to his feet and spreading his arms wide as he wobbled impressively. "Behold the evocative onslaught of Edwin Odesseiron! _Incertus! Pulcher!"_

Korgan's eyes widened. "Oh, Hells," he said, reaching for his axe.

***

"I love you! I love _all_ of you!" Imoen declared, stretching her arms out. "C'mere, guys! Group hug!"

Viconia dodged Imoen's grasp naturally enough, but she was unable to escape Hexxat as the vampire latched her arms around her, pulling her into the horrifyingly inefficient 'group hug' with the two other members of their party.

"I...I have to confess something," Angelique said quietly. "For the longest time, after Spellhold, I didn't think there was going to even _be_ an 'after all this.' Honestly, I'm still not convinced there will be. That's why I hadn't even thought about what I would do once this crisis was over. But now, with you guys...I feel like everything's going to be all right, somehow. You know?"

"Have you thought of something, then?" Viconia asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, no," she admitted. "Pretty sure it involves all of you, though."

A warm feeling that had nothing to do with the copious amounts of wine she'd drunk blossomed in Viconia's stomach. "Ah," she said, unsure what words would suffice as a proper reaction. "That is...a welcome suggestion."

"I want to go to a beach," Hexxat said. "A beach, at noon, when it's warmest. And I want to lie in the sand, and feel the heat on my skin, and dip my feet in the waters of the ocean."

Viconia turned to stare at her incredulously. "You...wish to be human?"

"It isn't possible. I know." Hexxat bowed her head. "But I wish it, regardless."

"A Wish! Of course!" Imoen exclaimed. "I know I saw a Wish scroll somewhere in Ribald Barterman's giant piles of junk! We could use a Wish spell to turn you into a human again!"

Hexxat frowned. "A...Wish spell? Surely it can't be so simple." Her hand brushed unconsciously against the ever-present bag of holding at her waist.

"I mean, we'd hafta write in loads of conditions and stuff," Imoen said. "So your real age doesn't count, or something like that. But we've got enough gold to afford it, and I'm pretty sure it could work! If you word a Wish right, it's supposed to be able to get you just about anything!"

"That's...I..." Hexxat paused, momentarily stunned. "I never thought of that."

"That's what I'm here for!" Imoen said brightly. "That, and the laughs!"

Hexxat broke free of the huddle, throwing her arms around Imoen's shoulders. "Thank you," she whispered, clasping the mage's arms tightly. "Thank you."

"Hey, there's no need to thank me!" Imoen said cheerfully, hugging Hexxat back. "What's the point of having friends if they don't write up your legal contracts for you?"

Viconia cleared her throat, turning to face Angelique. "I...may have been somewhat untruthful, as well," she said, somewhat stiffly. "I do not want to return to hiding in some out-of-the-way corner to be hunted down at will. I want to continue adventuring. Perhaps rescuing more _darthiir_ to see the expressions on their faces when they're forced to thank me. With you," she added, in case that had been unclear.

Angelique bent slightly to rest her forehead against Viconia's, smiling. "I'd like that, too."

"I guess I was the only one who was telling the truth about their retirement plans, then?" Imoen said. "I meant every word I said, you know."

"Even the nubile young manservants?" Angelique said dryly.

 _"Especially_ the nubile young manservants."

Viconia frowned, peering around. She could have sworn that she'd heard a loud noise in the distance. Something like a mighty crash, perhaps. Had she been imagining it?

"Okay, enough heart to heart stuff!" Imoen declared. "More drinks!"

Viconia shrugged, holding out her cup for another refill. Whatever the problem was, she was sure that it would be able to wait until the morning.

***

"So." Edwin scratched his beard, surveying the flaming wreckage of what had once been a very impressive statue and several murals. "You don't think that was a load-bearing wall, do you?"

"That depends on ye, mage," Korgan said, leaning on the handle of his axe. "Is yer head finally back on straight?"

Edwin braced himself mentally, then tried to summon up the energy to care about the property damage he'd caused. He found nothing but a deep and abiding lack of concern. "The evocation worked! My superiority is assured!"

"Aye," Korgan said, nodding supportively. "Wasnae good art, anyway. I'm sure they won't be missin' it."

***

Officially, the reason the gates of Suldanessellar were closed to the Bhaalspawn and her party was Alaundo's prophecy. Unofficially, the real reason they were unceremoniously ejected was the furious petitions of the Guild of Artisans, who swore to never raise a chisel again until Edwin and Korgan were at least five miles away from anything they could reduce to kindling.

The days to come were hard, and bloody, and marked with immense sorrow. Those events would all be chronicled in Volo's highly successful biography of Angelique, in lurid and often melodramatic detail.

But if, in the evenings, Imoen would create illusions of beaches, and the sea, and the sounds of distant gulls - or if, one morning, Viconia turned towards Angelique and dared for the first time to whisper into her ear: _I love you-_

-and if, after everything was over and the blood of gods had finally been cleansed from their hands, two human women were seen cutting a swathe across every single beach and place of ill repute along the Calimshite coast, while a thief and her drow lover gained a reputation as saviors of elvenkind so impressive that Corellon Larethian himself intervened when an assassin of Lolth attempted to strike her former priestess down?

Those secrets, only Angelique and her friends would ever know.

And, to this day, they certainly aren't telling.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt involved: bonding, drunken games, slice of life fluff as the group camps for the night, talking about feelings, and post-canon material for BG1 or BG2. I thought I'd give some insight into what the party might have been doing while the Bhaalspawn were taking shelter in Suldanessellar between BG2 and ToB - which, considering their party composition, was likely to have been fairly chaotic!
> 
> I haven't actually played the Enhanced Editions, so I depended on Youtube videos of Hexxat's banter and romance dialogue to write her character. I hope that I managed to capture her voice satisfactorily!


End file.
